Southampton vs Watford Prediction: Hornets can stall Saints march

| 12th April |

3 mins read

Southampton can’t afford any slip-ups if they are to land an automatic promotion place but that’s just what might happen when they host Watford in the Championship on Saturday.

Saints find themselves behind the likes of Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Leeds United, but their two games in hand on the trio still give the south coast outfit a slight hope that they could yet secure automatic promotion.

Draw specialists Watford head to St Mary’s this weekend and, given their run of form and the recent meetings between these sides, another stalemate might well be on the cards. Below is our Southampton vs Watford prediction, featuring match odds and team news.

Southampton vs Watford Prediction

Draw @ 4/1
Under 2.5 total goals @ 6/4

Team News

Starting with the hosts, Stuart Armstrong might be handed a starting role after coming off the bench in the 2-1 win over Coventry last time out.

Manager Russell Martin has no fresh injury concerns after that encounter with the Sky Blues on Tuesday night.

As for Watford, expect few changes from their interim boss Tom Cleverley after their goalless stalemate with Ipswich Town last time out.

Jeremy Ngakia and Ken Sema are recovering from injuries but could be passed fit for a place on the bench.

Match Odds

Southampton are 2/5 favourites - or a 71.4% chance - to win on home soil, with Watford the 13/2 underdogs to claim the three points at St Mary’s.

A draw on Saturday is available at 4/1, while Southampton’s Adam Armstrong is the shortest price at 21/20 in the anytime goalscorer market, having netted 20 league goals already this season.

Ex-Blackburn Rovers striker Armstrong found the net in four consecutive games before drawing a blank against his former club and Coventry City in his last two appearances.

Draw @ 4/1

As mentioned, Watford have become the draw specialists in the Championship of late, drawing all of their last four games.

The Hornets have held both Leeds and Ipswich to stalemates in recent weeks and another point might well be on the cards at St Mary’s for Cleverley’s side.

Southampton and Watford have already met three times this season in the Championship and FA Cup, with two of those matches ending in 1-1 draws.

At odds of 4/1 another draw this weekend is well priced and would not be a great shock given the recent trend.

Under 2.5 total goals @ 6/4

With those 1-1 draws between these teams in both the Championship at the FA Cup, under 2.5 total goals would have landed in two of the last three meetings.

Watford’s last two games in the league have also finished goalless against Preston North End and Ipswich, which just shows how tough the Hornets are to break down, while also showing their shortcomings at times in attack.

In another high-pressure game for Southampton, under 2.5 goals in this game covers the 0-0 and 1-1 scorelines and is worth considering at 6/4.